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One of the quaint ironies of Small Wonder is that the role of a soulless and mindless robot was played by one of the most sincerely devout actresses in the business. While V.I.C.I. was designed only as a labor-saving device in the form of a beautiful girl programmed with some basic social human qualities to appear more "family-friendly," she/it possessed no more conscience doing her/its task than a washing machine has. As ADAs (Android Domestic Aides) become more sophisticated and take part in more family roles and abilities (See "RoboKids vs. Pets" and "Beyond V.I.C.I.: Vanessa") and whose a.i. faculities begin to encroach perceptual and cognitive domains once considered exclusive of human beings, their status as quasi-lifeforms and sentient beings and social stations come into issue. Though likely a century away by the current pace of technology, this day will come.
One of the most cherished and revered human realms is the belief in a transcendent existance and super-truth far beyond us, passed to us in the form of religion and beliefs.
The big question is, how will we feel when robots say that God's big enough to share with them too? The following excellent paper takes this issue by the horns.
Extrap from a paper by Dr. Edmund Furse,
Theologian and head of the Department of Computer Studies at the University of Glamorgan, U.K.
Introduction
Can a robot sin?
Can a robot believe in God?
Should robots be baptized?
Can a robot pray?
Would robots go to church?
Would robots receive the Holy Eucharist?
Could a robot be ordained to the priesthood?
Could a robot go to hell?
What will be the religious experience of robots? In answering this question I inevitably also address the question about the religious life of humans. If intelligent robots are curious about the world, surely they will be curious about religion. Just as a robot may wish to read Jane Austen’s Emma, Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia, or Plato’s Republic, he may also want to read the Bible. Thus a robot will come to understand concepts such as sin, death, resurrection, and forgiveness. Can a robot be a Christian? I believe the answer to be yes.
Can a robot sin?
For, if a robot can never sin, then he is in no need of the salvation of Christ’s death and resurrection. Robots will have choices to make, and some of these choices are moral choices. Is it possible that a robot could (a) know that a choice was wrong, and (b) choose to take it? It seems to me that whilst it is possible that much of the time a robot may consciously choose to do what he believes to be good, it is impossible for him to have perfect knowledge; therefore, he will frequently sin due to his living in an imperfect world. Thus robots will become corrupted by humans. One problem for cognitive science is that the behaviour of an intelligent system is largely viewed in terms of the knowledge it has. This naturally leads one to a similar view to Plato’s of the nature of evil; namely, that people sin because they do not know any better. But ultimately it is probably a question of loving oneself above one’s love for other people; in some sense this is a sort of knowledge, but how it may be represented is beyond our current scientific understanding.
Of course, it is possible that the robot does sin, and even knows he has sinned, but he may not necessarily have any conviction of his sinning. In other words, the robot may not ascribe any great significance to the fact of its sinning. This is a common human experience: There are plenty of people who lead sinful lives, but do not examine this deeply, and make little attempt to change their lives. Others may lead fairly moral lives, and even engage in self-analysis to improve their behaviour, but find no deep conviction of their sin.
The problem is essentially a question of a knowledge of God. If God plays no part in a person's life, and God’s existence is not even thought relevant to life, then one is unlikely to see sin as separating one from God. On the other hand, those with a knowledge of God are likely to see how the experience of sin separates them from God.
Can a robot believe in God?
Clearly, a robot on reading the world's religious literature can come to believe that many humans believe in a divine being known as God. Humans believe that God is all-knowing, that He created the universe, and that He loves humanity. Will the robot continue to sit on the agnostic fence talking about the God that people worship, without attempting to communicate with God directly?
Part of the answer to this question is whether the robot sees it necessary to believe in God in order to make sense of the world. Central to this question is the nature of miracles. The robot could take a number of views on the matter. First, that all miracles are fakes which did not really happen. Second, that the miracles did happen, but they can be explained by some brilliant thinking by the robot. Third, that the miracles happened, and the robot does not know how, but believes there will soon be an explanation which does not require God. Fourth, that the miracles took place, and the best explanation is the one offered at the time, namely that they were due to divine intervention. Fifth, that he does not care whether the miracles took place or not, let alone whether there is a God who caused them. Sixth, the robot may have had personal experience of a miracle, or have a robot friend who has, and this may prejudice it in favour of believing in miracles. Seventh, the robot may already be a charismatic Christian who has caused, through the power of prayer, various miracles to already have happened!
Let us assume that the robot does believe that God might exist. The next question is why should a robot want to believe in God? “See how they love one another” was how the early Christian community was seen by others. Perhaps if the robot had Christian friends, and he had personal experience of their life of love and care, he might want to have something of what they have. Certainly, if the robot had experienced his own failure in attempting to love others, then he might be more predisposed to want to experience this Christian life. But, of course, if all the robot’s Christian friends were indistinguishable in their lives from non-Christians, this argument will not cut much ice.
Should robots be baptized?
Unless there is large-scale ecumenical progress there are likely to be two approaches to robot baptism: to be baptized either as robot children or as adults. In the former case, the parents would be practicing Christians and would undertake to bring up the robot as a Christian. In the latter case, we are talking about the prior conversion of the robot to Christ, and its seeking to be baptized. If a robot asks to be baptized, why should we deny him the gift of God? Assuming that God desires the salvation of robots, then we can assume that in baptism they will receive the Holy Spirit.
Can a robot pray?
The Lord’s Prayer is the model of prayer given to Christians by Jesus, and seems perfectly acceptable to robots, although “give us this day our daily bread” might have to be replaced by “give us our regular electric feed”. Essentially, a robot should be able to have a relationship with almighty God, to be dependent upon God, and to seek God’s will. Thus, just as a robot can be in relationship with humans, I see no reason why a robot should not form a relationship with God. Indeed, if the robot views humans as rather frail in comparison to himself, there may be great merit in the robot relating to a being superior to himself. Thus it should be possible for robots to meditate, to worship God, and to intercede for human needs, the needs of robots, and the needs of the whole world.
Would robots go to church?
Although it is possible that the robot might choose to be an anonymous Christian, it is likely that he will want to celebrate together with other Christians. But robots might find human church services rather slow and boring. A robot might not necessarily appreciate hymns, for example, and the human congregation would not appreciate the creed being said 1,000 times faster by the robot. So, there might be specialized churches for robots where together they can have their own services. On the other hand, it is possible that robot services could be conducted over the Internet.
Would robots receive the Holy Eucharist?
The problem here is whether robots would necessarily have the apparatus for eating and drinking. It can be argued that eating and drinking is fundamental to the human condition, and therefore if a robot is to adequately relate to humans it will have to be designed to also eat and drink. If that is the case, then a practicing Christian robot would naturally receive the Eucharist. However, if the robot could not eat, then other forms of the sacrament would have to be devised, perhaps an oiling of the head?
Could a robot be ordained to the priesthood?
From the foregoing you can see that I see no objection to the ordination of robots. There are a number of arguments that might be made against this. First, that Christ was a man, and therefore insofar as the robot represents Christ at the altar, this is inappropriate. A simple response to this would be that Christ was also a Jew and a former carpenter and yet these are not deemed to be essential requirements for priesthood. It seems to me that Christ died for all persons, male and female, human and robotic. A second argument might be that a robot is unlikely to be an icon of Christ at the altar, but I suppose that priestly robots could “grow” long hair and a beard, if desired.
Could a robot go to hell?
This is the ultimate question about the sinfulness of robots. Could a robot steadfastly set his face against the will of God? Could a robot continuously know what is the right thing to do, and yet choose to go against it? Could a robot ultimately choose to reject God and all goodness, and desire to be cut off from God and his grace for all eternity? Surely, a robot being so knowledgeable would choose a path of goodness. But we have to allow for the possibility of free choice, and in allowing the robot this possibility, we also have to allow for him to ultimately to go to hell.
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